The Russian paramilitary group Wagner abducted, apprehended and tortured numerous civilians throughout its more than three years in Mali, consisting of at former UN bases and military camps shared with the Malian army, according to a report published Thursday by a consortium of journalists.The victims, spoke with from a refugee camp in neighboring Mauritania, described being waterboarded, beaten with electrical cable televisions and burned with cigarette butts, according to the examination led by Forbidden Stories and carried out in collaboration with France 24, Le Monde and IStories.The examination determined six sites where civilians were unlawfully apprehended and tortured between 2022 and 2024, though the actual number is likely greater, the reporters said.
The techniques mirrored those supposedly used by Wagner in Ukraine and Russia, and sometimes, led to deaths.Malis judgment junta, which pertained to power in coups in 2020 and 2021, cut ties with former colonial power France and turned to Russia for political and military support.
While the junta has never formally acknowledged Wagners existence, declaring instead to work with Russian trainers, human rights groups and Western federal governments have long declared Wagner fighters were active in the country.Last week, a Telegram channel associated with Wagner said the group would be withdrawing from Mali.
Its fighters are expected to be soaked up into the Africa Corps, a Kremlin-linked paramilitary force, according to diplomatic and security sources who talked to AFP.A UN investigation implicated Malian soldiers and foreign fighters of performing a minimum of 500 individuals during an anti-jihadist operation in the town of Moura in 2022 a claim the junta rejects.
Western governments state Wagner mercenaries were involved.In April 2024, bodies were discovered near a Malian military base days after the army and Wagner personnel apparently apprehended dozens of civilians, the majority of them from the Fulani ethnic group.